I found this compelling article about the virtues of natural medicines vs. the traditional pharmaceutical approach. Many people have heard but forget that prescription pharmaceuticals are by perscription because they are not safe enough to self perscribe. Also, some of the older ones are less expensive and safer than the latest and greatest your doctor may suggest with the constant urging of their local drug rep. We live in a drug happy society, and have been trained to be this way since we were young so we think it is normal. If you speak with most senior citizens, almost all of them are on something because of the fear of reprisal (a life threatening condition) or does it have to do with our health care symptom orientated paradigm run amouck. What I mean by this is that for example, if you have blood pressure, there is likely a systemic reason. Sure, extreme high blood pressure is dangerous, however, there is systemic reason why it is high, yet, there is often little concern with why it is high. Since the symptom is likely part of a greater issue, and we are only controlling the symptom (since this is what we teach doctors to do), the bigger reason is likely to show up worse later on, with other symptoms treated the same way. This paves the way for the current prescription model that is the bread and butter of big pharma who has developed potions to relieve the symptoms, rather than solve the reasons for their existence. In the end, people are on numerous medications to control that which doctors do not try to understand, hence, our drugged out society. 26 Reasons Why You Should Forgo Prescription Drugs and 14 Reasons Why You Should Take Natural Medicines by Bill Sardi Prescription drugs - more than 100 million Americans take them, often without question. But why? Despite decades of studies showing Rx drugs are potentially harmful, sometimes prompting drug recalls and news reports of needless deaths, most patients never question their doctor when given a prescription for an FDA-approved drug. True, many senior Americans are forced to forego filling their prescriptions for financial reasons, but they aren't forgoing their medications because they perceive their medicines are problematic. Americans love to take pills. The average 75-year-old has three chronic conditions and uses five prescription drugs. Americans feel blessed they live in a country that has miracle drugs that are the envy of others all over the globe, and often feel they want the best that modern medicine has to offer. Newer drugs are often avidly preferred after hearing about them on television ads even though their safety record will not be fully known for a few years. It has not been difficult for drug companies to coax continue reading here